ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Rochester Police officer has been placed on administrative duty after using pepper spray on a shoplifting suspect who tried to escape with her 3-year-old child in her arms.
Video of the February 22 incident has been made public at a time when the Rochester Police Department is under intense scrutiny over its interactions with Black residents.
Body camera video shows the woman, who is Black, bolting from a white officer who had stopped her in the street and told her she was being accused of stealing.
The officer chased the woman down the sidewalk, then struggled to subdue her while trying not to injure the screaming toddler.
In February, Rochester officials have released the names of four white police officers who have been suspended or put on administrative leave in the wake of the pepper-spraying of a 9-year-old Black girl.
The Democrat & Chronicle reported that all of the named officers had been part of the Rochester Police Department for less than six years.
Officer Alexander Lombard has been suspended. The Democrat & Chronicle says he was the officer who sprayed a chemical irritant in the face of the upset girl as she was handcuffed in the back of a police car.
Officer Chad Brady, Officer Adam Bradstreet, and Officer Hannah Schneeberger are on administrative leave. An internal investigation is pending.
